What is it?

Built on Volkswagen’s stiffer, lighter MQB platform – in a configuration shared with the Seat Ibiza – VW’s new supermini is substantially longer and wider than before. It’s lower, too. Not that the Polo has been transformed into something overtly sporting – beyond the new, deadpan headlights, a body-coloured lip at the top of the grille and a strip of scalloped bodywork that runs from just behind the front wheel to the rear lights, it’s business as usual. You can no longer buy a Polo with only three doors, either.

The Polo has always been happy to leave the thrills to others, though, focusing on more prosaic matters that are of greater importance to the majority of its buyers. As such, VW has been at pains to highlights the fact that this car as greater boot capacity than some hatchbacks in the class above, at 351 litres, and also features a gamut of safety technology – including blind-spot detection and emergency braking – that’s trickled down from the Golf.

The engine line-up is a mix of turbocharged Euro VI-compliant TDI and TSI engines, with the addition of a 64bhp naturally aspirated petrol that serves as a cheap-to-insure entry point. Volkswagen expects 95 percent of buyers to go for petrol, which is a statistic of its own making, and not just because the Polo suits a powerplant that treads lightly.

The turbocharged 1.0-litre TSI on offer comes with either 94bhp or 113bhp, and it’s the latter – coupled with the optional seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox – we’ve tested here. Meanwhile, VW’s 1.6-litre TDI is available with either 79bhp or 94bhp, and is coupled solely with a five-speed manual gearbox.

What's it like?

Inside? Barring some scratchy plastics, it’s incredibly grown up. A bit dour, even, though the vibrant ‘dashboard pack’ inserts available on some trim levels would undoubtedly lighten the mood.

The architecture is difficult to fault, however. A high dashboard has been designed to put a broad central touchscreen on the same plane as the air vents and instruments, and looks smart. On SEL models up, VW’s Audi-inspired ‘Active Info’ display is an option, and for £325 replaces the physical binnacles with a 10.5-inch TFT display – a first for a supermini, and a very slick touch.

It’s a well-considered space; one in which owners of the new Golf will feel at home and only the exceptionally tall will struggle for room while sitting in the rear seats. Those who regularly travel five-up may want to consider a larger car, however.

Sitting some way below the 197bhp 2.0-litre TSI tucked in the Polo GTI is the three-cylinder 1.0-litre TSI driven here. Until a version of VW’s 1.5-litre TSI arrives later on in 2018, it’s the next most powerful petrol model in the range and suits the car extremely well, spinning quietly and lightly up to about 2200rpm, at which point the double-clutch gearbox executes shifts with a lazy precision. Our only real criticism would be that it clatters noisily when reignited by the stop-start system.

Detuned, less expensive versions of this three-cylinder 1.0-litre engine will sell in greater volumes, but this version lends the Polo a sharp turn of pace once you’re over a slither of initial turbo-lag. That ‘small car, hearty engine’ feeling never really gets old, and is one we’d pay the premium for, though you’d give up little by opting for the 94bhp TSI.

As for transmissions, you would save yourself almost £1500 by opting for the five-speed manual, though in doing so would sacrifice the DSG’s two additional ratios and hamstring the car’s impressive cruising abilities as a consequence.

That would be a shame, because where the new Polo excels itself is on longer journeys. On the motorway, and in this specification, it operates with the insouciance and hush of a larger vehicle, something that’s also down to the quality of the damping, soundproofing and significantly widened tracks. Barring a slight fidget that’s almost inevitable with B-segments cars, the assured ride is so uncanny for something this size it’s actually endearing.

The steering is light but accurate, and on the wet roads of our test route, body control never felt compromised. And all the while that composure pervades, aided by a level of refinement that is yet to be matched in this segment.

Should I buy one?

It’s easy to ignore, the Polo. Comfortable, safe, practical – all these things – but also bland to behold and, historically, a virtual mute if ever any dialogue between road and driver was attempted. For these reasons we’d have made for the keys of a Ford Fiesta over the previous Polo, and probably those of a Renault Clio before that.

Indeed, the brand’s second-biggest hit after the Golf has always been among the more mature members of the supermini gaggle, but this iteration is grown up to the extent that it threatens to cut itself adrift of that segment altogether. If you’ve been waiting for an excuse to buy a smaller car, and you prize comfort over character, the Polo might be it.

Bit late to this party but just say my piece. I need a second car for work and the school run, hired through work. I live in a village surrounded by narrow roads and switch-backs. Being hire cars, smaller cars are cheaper. I tested a Fiesta, Polo and Ibiza. The Fiesta was a hoot to drive, but after 200 miles you would have to carry me to my meeting on a stretcher, the Ibiza is just cheap and nasty (sorry) and the polo was big enough, just, and by far the most civilised. Value for money - no, but for me the best choice. If it was my money bought privately I could have a pre-registered Mondeo for less, but I would have real problems getting out of the village without hitting something (a wall probably). For info, my other car is an Ateca, so big fan of Seat, but you get what you pay for and the Ibiza is cheap.

The Polo being a VAG clone follows suit that it matches the 5 speed manual with the 95 TSI and six speed with the 115 TSI same as Ibiza, Golf, T-Roc, Arona, Ateca, Q3, A3 and so on that all use the same engine and gearbox variant...